Hitman with a Badass System

Under the crimson-red sky, the castle of vampires stood imposingly. The vampires adorned in complete black robes from head to toe, patrolled the castle ground in utter silence. Except for the wind's howling, there was no sound across the area. As they patrolled the castle grounds, Saber appeared in the red sky out of thin air. He looked at his vampires for a moment,  lingering in the sky. Saber slowly descended towards the castle. Seeing their lord, the vampires halted their steps. Their bodies went rigid as they bowed towards Saber. Despite Saber's young look, handsome face, and gentle smile on that handsome face, he was the most terrifying elder vampire among the Elder vampires. Fear gleamed behind the vampires' dark hood. Under their fearful eyes, Saber landed at the doorsteps. As though the door had sensed the presence of Saber, it slowly opened with a creak.

"Good to be home," Saber mumbled to himself. He might be staying in Awor, the land of the rick but his heart always yearned for this castle. No place in this world could come anywhere close to the vampire castle as far as he was concerned. A gentle smile emerged on his face. Saber navigated through the intricate dark corridors and arrived at a gray stone wall. He placed his hand on the wall, sending a sliver of arch energy into it. In a few seconds, the wall trembled, and the gray stones slowly moved inwards, forming an archway to a dimly lit hall. When Saber stepped into the hall, he was welcomed by two cloaked figures on their knees. Their faces were completely hidden beneath their hood. Under the gray rags, grayish-like decayed faces drew a long, rattling breath, as though they were trying to suck something more than air from their surroundings.

Saber walked around the hall with his hands behind him. He noticed the bloody tables, blood-stained walls, and jars filled with human organs. The hall would make anyone crinkle their noses or outright throw up. However, Saber didn't even lose his smile. After going a full round around the room, Saber finally halted his steps in front of the two kneeling figures. He jumped up on a steel table, ignoring its blood stains.

"Who's idea was it to create a plague in Awor?" Saber asked. His voice almost sounded like a child's, a playful child's. The two cloaked figures slowly raised their heads. Silence fell over them.

"I asked you a question," his playful tone contained a hint of killing intent. The two cloaked figures shuddered. Eventually, a growling voice of a woman came from one of the cloaked figures.

'

"Lord Nelo ordered me to create the plague Elder Saber…" the cloaked figure shivered.

"Is that so?" Saber slightly tilted his little head,

"But…but I didn't want to," the cloaked figure panicked.

"Why is that?" asked Saber.

"Because Elder Saber hasn't told me to,"

Saber's grin grew wider.

"Good answer," Saber's voice was stark contrast to the cloaked figure.

Saber turned his gaze to the cloaked figure named Nelo.

"Nelo, why did you order her to create this plague? If this old memory of mine serves me right, I didn't tell you to do so,"

Once again, silence enveloped the hall. No one uttered a word to break the silence. Eventually, Saber's chilling laughter cut through the silence.

"I turned you to do one simple task, follow my orders. Is that difficult to do? Huh Nelo?" asked Saber. His voice was full of murderous lust. A weak man would have fainted at the mere feeling of the cold aura radiating from Saber.

"My Lord-" Nelo's words were abruptly cut short by Saber. With a single look, Saber created a vacuum around Nelo's head. Nelo gasped for air, yet there was no air around him to breathe.

"It's my fault. I put you here to oversee her work, not order her around. Maybe I wasn't clear about that," Saber's brows arched up. He played drums on the steel table nonchalantly. For a few minutes, Saber let Nelo gasp for air without lifting a finger. Eventually, when Nelo was about to lose consciousness, Saber simply waved his hand.

"AHH!' Nelo gasped for air. His chest rose up and down, frantically breathing as much air as possible.

"Fabia, did you know someone out there found a cure for the plague you created?"

Anyone from Gisel would have immediately recognized the name. Fabia Viridius, daughter of former Gisel senator, Viridius. Michael blew the stage with all the senators of Gisel on it seven months ago. Everyone, including Michael, thought Fabia had died in that explosion along with her father. She would have died if it wasn't for Saber, who rescued her and turned her into a vampire. Before that, Saber funded Fabia's experiments on Flamefair, almost killing Titus and Optimus.

The major weaknesses all the vampires had were sunlight and thirst for blood. Saber wanted to change that. Hence, he hand-picked some of the genius brains in the world and made them work for him one way or another. Among the geniuses, Fabia was the smartest. Before Michael blew the stage with her on it, she was on the verge of a breakthrough. Her brutal experiments included people native to the southern continent and cultivators. Now that she was turned into a vampire and given a portal to travel between the Southern continent and Flamefair, she had a large victim pool at her disposal. No one in Flamefair knew Fabia was controlling their duke, and Saber controlled Fabia. Simply put, Saber was controlling Flamefair for decades. But Flamefair was one of the kingdoms indirectly controlled by the vampires. Every kingdom in the world had at least one vampire among them, controlling the kingdom from the shadows. That was how the vampires stayed in the shadows for such a long time. Whenever some adventurer or a scholar stumbled upon something vampire-related, they would immediately kill them before.

Surprise and shock glistened in Fabia's eyes under the dark hood covering her head.

"I…I…"

"You can speak freely, Fabia," seeing Fabia stutter in fear, Saber said, smiling at her.

"It wasn't my best work, my lord. Lord Nelo only gave me a week,"

Any oblivious man would have been startled by her words. In a mere one week, Fabia created something that almost brought down the most powerful continent in the world. Suppose Michael hadn't intervened, Nelo's plan would have been a success. Unfortunately, Michael threw a huge wrench in Nelo's plan. If Nelo had done the same a few months ago, Saber would have killed him instantly. However, everything changed. The vampires were no longer a myth. A journalist with the help of a Guardian, exposed them with evidence. Although it was the Royal news who published an article about the vampires, Saber had a feeling someone else puppeteered everything from behind. Was it the same person who sent a threatening letter? Saber couldn't find an answer to the question.

"Let's just say, you had more resources and time. Would you say you can create something no one could find a cure for?" asked Saber.

"Yes," Fabia didn't even take a few seconds to think about it. She had monstrous trust in her abilities. With Saber's support, she knew she could create a new strain of plague that no one could cure.

Her answer satisfied Saber. Her confidence and her abilities were what made her such a valuable asset. Otherwise, Saber would have let her burn to death. Looking at the smile on Saber's face, Fabia sighed inside. The smile symbolized she had evaded a death sentence from her master. But the same could not be said for Nelo. To be honest, Fabia wanted Nelo out of her way. He was a restriction to her experiments. A few days ago, Nelo almost canceled her plan to turn Quintus into a vampire. It took a lot of convincing. That time could have been used to do something else.

So Fabia rooted for Saber to kill Nelo. As far as she was concerned, he was just an obstacle between her and her success. No matter what, she had to appease Saber so he would bring her father back to life.

"What are you currently working on?" asked Saber. Although he didn't let his subordinates do whatever they wanted, he gave them an extent of freedom. Unlike Nelo, Saber avoided micro-managing his subordinates. As long as they yield results for Saber, he funded their experiments. At the moment, Saber had twelve secret laboratories worldwide, and each one of them had a genius like Fabia working on the betterment of vampires. They were all preparing for the possible war against the Dark Lord.

"Hybrid soldiers, my lord. I have successfully created an assassin. Now I have put a hybrid warrior on the field and waiting for results," Fabia's voice had a tinge of pride.

The Assassin she created successfully killed a seasoned warrior such as Heimberg in a matter of seconds. Compared to the assassin, Fabia had more hopes and expectations for the hybrid warrior she had recently created. He was none other than General Quintus. According to Fabia's calculations, turning Quintus into a half-vampire would amplify his abilities by several folds. He could take on an army single-handedly without any use of arch energy.

"I want to see him in action. Where did you send your hybrid warrior?" asked Saber. He couldn't help feeling curious. Despite the mysterious one's threat, Saber decided to take a look at Fabia's new creation.

"He is currently waging war against Kingdom Prerid, my lord,"

With the vampire genes in his body, Fabia knew Quintus would be turning the tide of the war single handedly as they were speaking. Even she wanted to see his creation in action. Unfortunately, she had more pressing tasks that needed her absolute focus.

"Wonderful. I will see him, myself," Sabwe clapped his hands as he jumped down from the steel table. He stretched his arms, yawning. He turned around to leave the hall. Seeing Saber walking towards the exit, Nelo sighed. However, his relief was short-lived. Before stepping into the archway, Saber just snapped his finger as Nelo exploded into a bloody black mist.

"Clean the mess, Fabia. You got what you wished for. So get back to work now. No one will order you around anymore,"